A daily routine in almost every residence across the country is the waiting for the U.S. mail postal delivery. This routine is especially time wasting in households that have a curbside or rural mailbox. The resident must watch for the mail delivery and see if anything is placed in the box. If the person does not watch and just waits until the normal delivery time has passed, they are still not sure if anything was delivered or not other than by taking a trip to the mailbox. This is especially time consuming in hot, cold, rain or snow conditions. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which the delivery of mail to a remote mailbox can be visually or audibly indicated to the resident located in a separate structure. The development of the invention herein described fulfills this need.
The mail indication system provides for the wireless notification of mail delivery to a curbside, apartment/office complex or rural mailbox. The system consists of a battery-powered transmitter that is mounted inside of a conventional mailbox. The transmitter is held in place with double-sided tape, or other suitable fastening means. The transmitter is activated by the use of a motion sensor switch that is automatically activated whenever the mailbox door is opened. The alerting system also relies on a receiver that is located inside of a remote structure or residence, up to several hundred feet away. The receiver has an indicator light and an audible alarm that sounds when the mail is delivered. A switch is provided to reset the system for the next day's mail. The use of the innovative system provides for the remote notification of mail delivery in an efficient manner.
Several attempts have been made in the past to provide remote indication of the receipt of mail within a mailbox, particularly for those residences that are far away from the mailbox location. U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,580 in the name of Hatzold discloses a mail notification system comprising an activator attachment to an inner surface of a mailbox that opens to an extended position and emits radio waves to a receiver. Said receiver has a speaker to emit sounds and is attached to a word display. Unfortunately, the Hatzold device does not utilize a motion sensing device integral to a transmitter that is selectively installed with a mounting mechanism thereto a inner surface of a mailbox.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,919 issued in the name of Adams teaches a remote mail delivery system for signaling to the user when mail is being delivered by using an LED display or speaker and a pressure sensitive transmitter on the cornice of the floor of the mailbox. The present invention utilizes a different means of detection and is designed to be mounted on the sides or rear face of the interior of the mailbox.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,375 issued in the name of Wallace describes an electronic mail sensor for informing a user that something has been put into a mailbox. Unfortunately, the Wallace device differs from the present invention in that the transmitter device is installed therein the mailbox with a clip member as opposed to which enables the transmitter in the present invention to be mounted along any interior face within the mailbox, such that the motion sensing device is positioned to detect a mail delivery event. Additionally, there are no provisions in the Wallace device to provide a resetting function to deactivate an audible or visual indication of said mail delivery event.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,854 issued in the name of Armstrong discloses a remote indicator system for determining at a remote location when incoming mail is present in a mailbox, comprising a light port that admits ambient light to shine on a photodetector on the bottom of the mailbox, which produces a signal when no mail is present and a signal when the light is interrupted, thereby indicating mail has arrived. Another photodetector disables the first signal when the ambient light is below a given intensity and a switching mechanism is attached to a manually operable flag for determining the difference between incoming and outgoing mail. Unfortunately, the Armstrong device differs in scope from the present invention in that the sensing device utilizes different principles and is mounted in a different location.
None of the prior art particularly describes a device to effectively notify a user of delivery and/or receipt of mail in a mailbox at a remote location. Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which the a sensing device is positioned such that it detects the presence of a delivery of mail, generates a detection signal, transmits said detection signal, receives said detection signal at a remote location, and alerts said user via a audible alarm and/or a visual display.